"Kicking the tobacco habit, keeping children from cigarettes and addressing the link between economic
status and quality health care are among the concerns and recommendations addressed in the annual state health report card released Thursday at the Greenwood
Cultural Center. "

It isn't just the tobacco industry teaching our children that smoking is simply a nastly little habit. Look at a
few actual recent headlines:

Help for Those Willing to Kick a Habit
New York Times (Tuesday, November 27, 2001)

Look at the above message from an innocent child's eyes. Our youth are taught that repeatedly picking their nose,
cursing, popping their nuckles, or driving without using turn signals are habits. They know that it takes time to develop one and that it doesn't hurt
a bit to stop.

I'm confident that it is not the intent of most journalists to mislead young readers -- who have never known chemical
dependency or experienced the agony of attempting withdrawal -- into feeling more comfortable about experimenting a few times with an extremely captivating
substance. But, I am not confident that our children understand the manner in which the word habit is being used.

Canada's tobacco warning label reads: "WARNING CIGARETTES ARE HIGHLY ADDICTIVE - Studies have shown that tobacco can
be harder to quit than heroin or cocaine." Is nicotine earth's most addictive particle? Alcohol addicts 10 percent of regular users, powdered
cocaine 15 percent, while nicotine permanently enslaves the brain dopamine delivery circuits of over 70 percent of users. Yes, nicotine is at
least 5 times more addictive than cocaine. The below link is to a few nicotine dependency articles comparing drug dependency rates.
You'll also see Canada's new warning label at the top.

It took just five cigarettes (and lots of coughing) - while trying to impress a 15 year old smoking princess - before I was
alone and Nicodemon commanded me to smoke yet another. After thirty years of dependency that graduated to 60 daily feedings and at least a dozen hard
fought defeats at breaking free, I once again live with natural brain dopamine levels (or what's left of them).

Each day thousands upon thousands of children become lifetime slaves to nicotine and their youthful error in judgment will
cost at least one-third of them their life. Yes, there are habits associated with nicotine addiction but they result from our addiction forcing each of us
to select regular feeding times.

I used to allow a journalist's use of the word "habit" to go unchallenged but now they each receive a quick
standard e-mail that contains much of what you've just read. It only takes a minute and it hopefully makes them think. Although a few get upset, most
of their replies simply say, "Thanks, I'd never looked at it that way before."

Go and get them, John! You are right that just the word chosen sends a message in
itself -- we need more like you in this world.

To answer your question, (not knowing what your post was about) ..... I am teaching my
children, that nicotine is a drug, I am teaching them about being an addict, I am teaching them about physical and mental withdrawal, I am teaching them to
take life one day at a time and I am teaching all of this by my example. While I am sorry that they have been subjected to this part of me in the past
months , I am not sorry if they have learned to
NEVER TAKE A SINGLE PUFF!

Thanks for bringing up this information. I have found recently that people don't want to tell anyone, kids in particular, anything bad. I've
always been brutally honest with my daughter about everything, including smoking. I find it especially difficult because my ex-husband tells her things
like: "smoking is only for adults" or "men can smoke, but women shouldn't". He always tells her never to smoke, but never says
why. Unfortunately, there is no printed information out there to present to a child my daughter's age (6 yrs old), so all I can do is tell her, to the
best of my ability, why smoking is bad and hope she can understand. Thanks to Freedom, I am much better informed, which has helped me to explain the
dangers of smoking to her. It is very unfortunate that the media, movies, and people in general approach smoking in such a mild manner.

Thanks again for the information.

-Cheri

Not a puff in 3 Weeks 4 Days 14 Hours 48 Minutes 17 Seconds. I have NOT smoked 512 cigarettes, for a savings of $96.06. Life Saved: 1 Day 18 Hours 40
Minutes

I lifted this off another thread on the topic of kids and smoking. I wrote this letter to John in February of 2000. John had wrote how he started smoking to
impress a girl and would have given up his big toe for a chance for a date. He thought smoking would somehow help in this effort. His comments back then was
my motivation for writing this letter. I have used it a number of times at a number for a number of different purposes since then. I think it is very fitting
here too.

Joel

Kids Just Don't Get It!

On the surface the above statement explains why kids are smoking at such an alarming rate. Here we have a product that is deadly, so deadly
in fact it has been deemed the most preventable cause of premature death in the United States. Some, who don't die from it, will often still be impaired
or crippled from cigarettes. Not only is it deadly, it is expensive. Kids taking up smoking today are likely going to end up with a product that will end up
costing them tens of thousands of dollars over their lifetime. But still kids take it up in record numbers today. What is the only logical explanation from
this tragedy?

Again, it must be kids don't get it. But don't be too quick to interpret my meaning of this phrase. Yes there are some kids that no
matter what you teach them will not listen to any amount of reason. But this is not the majority of kids taking up smoking. When I say kids don't get it,
I don't mean kids lack the common sense to make a rational decision about smoking. What they don't get is the real information in a manner that helps
them understand the magnitude of the danger and the power of the addiction. Without this understanding, they are not equipped with the ammunition to overcome
peer pressure, as well as tobacco promotion tactics by cigarette manufacturers.

When I try to offer programs to many local schools, free of charge mind you, I often get turned down for the reason that they can't
take time out of the busy education schedule required in schools today. Besides this, the school officials often feel kids already are getting the facts
about smoking in health classes and DARE presentations. This is all well and good, except the message delivered in these programs is often presented quickly
and truly skimming the surface of the depth of the nicotine addiction. I know when I do a school for the first time, the kids are amazed at the stories I
relate about the dangers of smoking and the strength of addiction. More important than this though, it almost never fails that the health teacher comes up to
me and tells me that they never understood the magnitude of the problem.

Recently, when I was speaking at a conference where representatives from many health organizations were coming to find out how to possibly
help get funding from tobacco settlement monies. The DARE officers represented came up to me afterwards shocked about how dangerous smoking actually was. It
seems the people being relied on to pass the message don't understand the message themselves. And the people who should be responsible to educate the
kids feel that the information is already out there for all to see because these people are already teaching it!

Kids can get it if it is given to them. It's not only a financial limitation that this material is not disseminated. It is a lack of
resolve and commitment by the public that allows this to happen. Parents should be demanding this information for kids. PTA groups should be screaming to
increase the educational component of smoking prevention. But unfortunately, most of them don't get it either. How often a parent reaction to their child
smoking is, "Well at least they are not using drugs." There is so many problems faced by kids today such as drugs, and alcohol, and violence that
smoking seems minor in comparison.

But what parents and other adults to understand is that smoking is going to kill more kids than all the other problems combined. The kid
has picked up an addiction that is likely going to kill them. What do I mean by likely? Well for ever thousand 20 year olds who smoke today and don't
quit, 6 of them will eventually die prematurely from being murdered (violence), 12 will eventually die prematurely from accidents, and 500 will die from
smoking! But at least they are not using drugs. When a parent says this or thinks this, understand, they don't get it either. They never did learn the
full extent of the nicotine addiction when they were kids.

You made the comment that you would have given up your toe for the girl back when you were a kid. Think about it though, do you really
think you would have given up your toe. If I was there with a chainsaw and made a promise that I would guarantee a date with the girl if you let me lop off
your toe, do you think you would have taken it? Probably not, and this analogy is not as farfetched as it may sound on the surface. There are people who end
up losing toes, fingers, feet, hands, legs, and arms from smoking. They are often given the choice to quit smoking or lost the limb, but they really
don't have a choice. They are addicts who lost control. Kids need to understand the extent of that control before they are smoking. Not that it just
smells bad, not that it makes your teeth yellow, not that it is just "bad" for you. They think lots of things are bad for them. But tobacco is in a
league by itself. When more kids get this information in its full non-diluted strength, more kids will have the ammunition to say no.

Peer pressure is a real phenomenon. Just telling kids not to give into it is not enough. Give them the reason not to give into it. Give
them the full unadulterated message of the deadly and addictive nature of nicotine. Give them a reason to say no and they will likely do it. Lets make sure
kids do get it and I think we will see a turn around in current trends.

I wasn't sure where I wanted to put the following discussion. I went back a little ways to find an appropriate titled string. This was the best I could
find at the moment.

What are we teaching our children? In a string today about why we deleted a post that went against our Courtesy and Rules about promoting any specific diet
plan that somehow got turned into a string about the differences of the sexes and weight control limitations of Freedom, a member pointed out how people in
general and young girls in particular take up smoking with the hopes that it will help them stay thin. So I guess if any young women are looking into our
site seeing why maybe they should not take up smoking, that they will instead see what they consider to be the one good reason why they should take it up--to
help with their weight.

The message would be bad enough even if it were true, that taking up smoking will help insure a young person in keeping her slim and trim figure. But this
belief of the marvels of smoking for weight control is just another way that smokers likely have been duped, maybe even before they ever took their first
cigarette. I am attaching a link to a study that explored the concept of whether taking up smoking does in fact help in lifetime weight control efforts. As
the study results showed, taking up smoking to stay thin is a lousy strategy--not just because of the fact that smoking is deadly but there is a pretty good
chance that it doesn't really help in keeping people thin.

There is truth that when people quit smoking that they will often gain weight. So it would seem on the surface that smoking must be an effective weight
control technique. When the investigator looked at people who never smoked and compared the overall weight differences to people who took up smoking, he
found that there was no significant long-term weight control benefit experienced by the smokers.

If this study is correct it is likely that young people who take up smoking to control their weight are making a mistake that not only is going to cost them
their health and their lives, but may in fact cause them to become heavier if they ever plan on quitting smoking.

So here is a string that at first had nothing to do with weight and smoking. It had to do with trying to give young people an accurate message of the
consequences of smoking. But it seems that this is a good place for this message to land. I think the closing line of the study would be particularly
valuable here: "Thus, smoking prevention and public health messages should communicate that weight control is not a "benefit" of smoking, and
if it does occur, it is minimal and may take years to accrue."

We are trying to serve the purpose of spreading a public health message here. That message is if you are young and considering smoking you should know that
smoking is deadly and even what you may be assuming to be a perceived benefit may in fact back fire on you, eventually causing the exact problem that you
were hoping to avoid. We are also trying to deliver a public health message to any smoker reading here, and that message is even clearer and simpler--it is
to stay smoke free now is no more complicated that just knowing to never take another puff!

By the way, this was only one study and I have not come across others backing up this report. But at the same time I have not come across any others
contradicting or dismissing it either. Whether it will stand the test of time I do not know. But working with a blanket statement that taking up smoking will
help with lifetime weight control efforts is clearly not warranted at this time.

Aims The first prospective investigation of the extent to which parentalsmoking cessation predicts their children's daily
smoking.

Design Parental smoking status was assessed when children were aged8/9 years and children's smoking status was assessedat age
17/18 years.

Setting Twenty Washington State school districts in the control groupof the Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project.

Participants and measurements Questionnaire data were gathered on 3012 children (49% femaleand 91% Caucasian) and both of their parents
in a cohort witha 95% retention rate.

Findings When both parents quit smoking, children's odds of dailysmoking were reduced by 39% (95% CI = 15%,56%) compared to when both parents were current smokers. Furthermore, when both parents never smoked then
children'sodds of daily smoking were reduced by 71% (95% CI = 62%,78%).

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2004--First-run movies from Disney, Time Warner and Sony delivered 56 percent of in-theater, pro-tobacco
impressions to U.S. children and teens since 1999, according to a new study released today by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
The five-year analysis of smoking in more than 775 U.S. movies also shows nearly 80 percent of PG-13 films and 50 percent of G- and PG-rated movies are
still littered with smoking.

The new report, the first to survey tobacco content in all Hollywood movies over five years and identify the results with studios and their corporate
owners, was released at a news conference before a group of Hollywood High School students. It was simultaneously released by public health advocates and
other concerned groups in some 18 states nationwide as part of a "National Day of Action" expressing public support for an R-rating of tobacco
use in films.

"For ten years, public health authorities have patiently tried to educate the entertainment industry about the life-and-death implications of smoking
in kid-rated movies. While hundreds of thousands of kids every year have continued to start smoking because of what they're shown on screen, this survey
shows zero movement inside the film industry itself," said report co-author Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at University of California, San
Francisco. "The public is saying 'Time's up.' A policy solution, the R rating, is needed now to get smoking out of kid-rated
movies."

According to the report, first-run U.S. movies from major studios delivered an estimated 8.2 billion pro-tobacco impressions to children and teenage
moviegoers in the last five years. Half of the tobacco impressions came from movies rated G, PG and PG 13.

A major study by Dartmouth researchers in 2003 echoed other studies over the last ten years by suggesting that exposure to smoking in movies recruits 52
percent of new underage smokers. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 80 percent of all adult smokers are addicted before age 18.

The UCSF study is the first to survey Hollywood's total output over a five-year period -- 776 live-action movies released between 1998 and 2002 -- and
to break out results by rating and by the corporation that produced or distributed each film. Key findings included:

-- Eighty percent of all films across the board included smoking -- almost 90 percent of R-rated films, 80 percent of PG-13 films and 50 percent of G/PG
movies.

-- Three companies -- Time Warner, Disney and Sony -- accounted for more than half of all movie releases with smoking and 56 percent of all estimated
tobacco impressions delivered to children ages 6-11 and teens ages 12-17.

-- Adolescents, the age group most prone to initiate smoking, were bombarded most heavily by tobacco impressions in movie theaters -- on average 75
percent more than younger children and 20 percent more than young adults 18-34.

-- Eighty-eight percent of Disney's PG-13 movies over the past five years included smoking, the highest rate among all major studios. Sony led major
studios with 45 percent of its G/PG films with smoking. Time Warner accounted for fully 25 percent of all tobacco impressions delivered to children and
teens.

"This survey shows an R-rating for tobacco use would, by clearing the smoke from kid-rated movies, cut kids' exposure in theaters by half and
help avert 50,000 tobacco deaths or more each year," said Jonathan Polansky, the study's co-author. "It's not a 100 percent solution, but
it's the most effective and least intrusive one. Our data show that studios already treat smoking differently, depending on the film's rating. The
next, inevitable step is the 'R.' The only question from now on is which smart and responsible studio will go first -- and start taking the credit
instead of the blame."

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. This year alone, more than 440,000 people are expected to die from a
tobacco-related disease. Studies show that the younger a person starts smoking, the more difficult it is to quit. Nicotine dependence can begin as soon as
four weeks after the first puff - even when teens are not smoking every day.

A "Commentary" accompanying the Dartmouth study's publication in The Lancet estimated that exposure to tobacco impressions in U.S. movies --
independent of all other factors known to contribute to teen smoking initiation -- could be recruiting 390,000 new young smokers each year in the United
States alone, of whom 100,000 will die prematurely of tobacco-related causes.

The report, "First-Run Smoking Presentations in U.S. Movies 1999-2003," is being published through the University of California's systemwide
California Digital Library as part of its eScholarship initiative. (The full report will be available for download after 9 a.m. PST March 9 at http://repositories.cdlib...g/ctcre/tpmus/Movies2004/.) For additional information on smoking in
movies, including the documented history of paid tobacco product placement, visit www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu.

The research was supported by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the National Cancer Institute.

We'll there you have it, John caught in an old 2001 post complaining how the media is teaching youth that our addiction is just a nasty little habit
when he himself was then teaching members here at Freedom that he was once possessed by a demon chemical that was comspiring against us - which is worse!
Folks, this forum and all who visit it have come a long long way since 1999 and I've got a feeling we'll do some rather amazing traveling together
over the next five years too.

To set the record straight....

It's all Nicodemon's fault, not mine!

There is no Nicodemon! There never was. The title to this
article, Nicodemon's Lies, is one of the biggest lies of all. They were never Nicodemon's lies but your lies. There is no nico-monster and
there never has been. Nicotine is simply a chemical, a drug, an alkaloid known as C10H14N2, and its I.Q. is and always has been zero. It does not
think, plan, inflict punishment, nor will it conspire to make you relapse or die addicted to it. The fact that it has zero intelligence is your
greatest weapon. Everything you see, feel, and sense during nicotine withdrawal and recovery will be grounded in chemical dependency, conditioning,
reason, logic or science. Any conspirators in any past attempts to make you relapse and destroy your recovery were always and only "you!"
Should you reclaim control of your brain reward pathways, your health and your life, the victory will belong only to you!

Freedom's Non-debate Policy: Please note that stories such as the one below are not presented here at Freedom to promote debate -
which history has shown tends to divide, polarize and diminish the effectiveness of group support (thus the reason for a Courtesy prohibiting debate) - but
to provide members with motivational insight into where things may be headed and what it may be like to still be actively dependent in a world quickly
awakening to the realization that nicotine is far more captivating and much deadlier than most drugs of addiction. Only one rule, no nicotine today ...
Never Take Another Puff!

City Bans Outside Smoking In Front Of Kids

Wed. March 17, 2004

WKMG TV Orlando, Florida USA

City council members in Port Orange passed a controversial law that bans outdoor smoking in front of children at public
parks and recreation properties, according to Local 6 News.

Port Orange council members said the smoking ban is to protect kids from second-hand smoke and to prevent them from starting in the first place.

The law was passed unanimously Tuesday night and goes into effect Wednesday morning. It reportedly includes city funded sites including playgrounds, ball
fields, and amphitheaters.

Several people who smoke told Local 6 News that they should be able to decide when and where they can light up while they are outside.

Officials say they will politely ask smokers to put out their cigarettes up to three times -- then they'll call police.

Repeat violators could be arrested and spend up to 60 days in jail and face a $500 fine.

Daines and other health advocates believe teenagers are susceptible to images of their movie heroes lighting up.

The commissioner wrote to the CEOs of six major Hollywood studios and to the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, asking them to reduce
children's exposure to onscreen smoking.

Just last summer, Walt Disney Co. said it would ban smoking from all family-oriented Disney brand films in addition to discouraging smoking in films from its
Touchstone and Miramax studios.

Tobacco is featured in three out of every four G, PG and PG-13 rated movies and 90 per cent of R-rated movies, according to research from the American Legacy
Foundation, a non-profit created with money from tobacco litigation in the U.S.

The Motion Picture Association of America has said it was taking excessive smoking in films into consideration, flagging certain movies for "pervasive
smoking."

The association said it would not go any further than that warning.

The American Medical Association has also weighed in on the issue. It backs a strict "R" rating for movies that show people smoking, especially on
films aimed at the 10 to 14-year-old demographic - a time when many young people begin to smoke.